etree

Spin Doctors Live at Wetlands on 1991-02-02

Notes

Record Release party for "Up For Grabs" EP
Entire show with John Bush (from Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians) on percussion
Chris will be 23 on Tuesday

* = Popper's pre-taped intro congratulating the band for releasing a live album from Wetlands before Blues Traveler did is barely audible in the SBD mix for some reason
+ = w/Craig Dreyer on sax (Chris calls Kenny Withrow [EB&TNB guitarist] to the stage, but he doesn't come); Craig teases BFFB during his solo
% = somewhat unfinshed (no final lyric reprise)
# = dedicated to Simon in London who co-wrote the song with Eric

Recorded by David Stecher who dubbed the DAT for Geoff Tischman, who dubbed it for me around 1993.

Transferred (9/2011), mastered, and tracked (4/15-4/25/2012) by Scott Bernstein

Taper notes:
BARN132 is another highly significant release for me personally. This was (if memory serves) my second time attending a show at the Wetlands...and the only time I saw the Spin Doctors at the venue during their "peak" years (pre-1995, I guess?) -- at the time I was still a college student living in New Brunswick, NJ, and they played enough locally in New Jersey that I didn't have to travel into NYC to see them relatively frequently. Anyway, for whatever reason I made the trip in with good music buddy at the time Mike Stentz, and had our Spins Wetlands experience -- HOT, packed, smokey, and I even scored a soundboard patch for my portable cassette recorder (from which this posting is NOT sourced -- it is sourced from a DAT I subsequently obtained a copy of from Geoff Tischman).

This was a significant show for the band as well -- as you'll hear in the frequent banter from Chris, the band had apparently just arrived back from their first trip to England and were seemingly a bit jet-lagged. Chris, being his ever loquacious self never tires of putting on a British accent and going on about random stuff including his upcoming 23rd birthday on Tuesday (how time flies!), and the release of their first EP, "Up For Grabs", recorded live just a few months back at this very venue. To the uninitiated, this was still a year or so before songs like "Two Princes" or "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" were ubiquitous on the radio, and Blues Traveler was the "breakout" band from the scene

Most fans of "jamband" music who weren't in the scene are usually somewhat surprised to find the Spin Doctors mentioned in the same breath as the other bands who were coming up in the scene at the time -- Blues Traveler, Phish, Widespread Panic, etc., but the Spin Doctors were absolutely a jam band. Yes, they always had a knack for writing a couple of catchy pop-style songs ("Two Princes" and "Little Miss..." were always in their repertoire as long as I'd been seeing them but were, frankly my least favorite songs that they played). But for every 3 minute catchy pop number, they had many more expansive tunes like "Hard To Exist", "Freeway Of The Plains", "Shinbone Alley" whose forms could change from night to night and have long jam sections in them for the band to stretch out (most people won't know this, but during some of them Chris used to leave the stage and sneak to the tapers' area at Wetlands to smoke up with the tapers, who always had good stuff!).

All aspects of the band are well-represented in this show. What else makes this show special? Well, there is the presence of John Bush, percussionist from Edie Brickell And New Bohemians (who were HUGE at this time) for the entire show -- he had a whole set-up on the left side of the stage -- congas, cowbell, timbales (I think), and who left one impression on me -- he did not wear any shoes the entire night (including during the setbreak) -- he just wore a thick pair of tie-dyed socks! Anyway, his presence (and seeming ease fitting into a bunch of songs he probably did not know) adds some nice extra color to the renditions of all of the songs in this show (more cowbell!). Additionally, Craig Dreyer (of the Dreyer Brothers, The Dugger Brothers, Ron Sunshine) sits in for what is without a doubt the all-time greatest version of the amazing "Cleopatra's Cat" ever performed by the band (unfortunately the version that the band released on their poorly-produced 1994 album "Turn It Upside Down" is limp and lifeless by comparison) -- which includes a really neat sax-guitar breakdown. Chris calls for Kenny Withrow, The New Bohemians' guitarist on a number of occasions to join them onstage, but he never did.

Other highlights of this massive show include the opening and very rockin' (but slightly ragged) triplet starting with the rarity (whose lyrics I love) "Stepped On A Crack" segueing into totally turbo-charged versions of "Lady Kerosene" and "Bags Of Dirt", a slow, expansive take on the wonderful "Freeway Of The Plains" with the rocker "Off My Line" tucked inside, a take on "Shinbone Alley" which really benefits from the extra percussion. In the second set we again start out rockin' with some old favorites "Hungry Hamed's" (about one of their old Brooklyn hangouts), "Big Fat Funky Booty", "Refrigerator Car", and "What Time Is It", before getting to the meat of the set. Things really rocket to a higher level in the middle of the 2nd set with starting with the semi-rare "Rosetta Stone" (which happens to be the last song on their live EP), a quiet song which really shows the band's ability to handle dynamics well -- in addition to Chris' clever lyrics, followed by a typically strong "Hard To Exist" (with a rare guitar/bass duet mid-song). After a fast, fun run through "Yo Mama's A Pajama", we get back to the serious jamming with the (forgotten?) Shakespearean epic "Sweet Widow" which is nearly worth the price of admission alone. Then we get the always-off-the-cuff lyrical improvisional "House" (with more refrences to their England trip, and song key transpositions), the quickie "More Than She Knows", and the centerpiece of the entire show "Cleopatra's Cat" which clocks in at over 18 minutes from its scat-sung intro through many jams (including a wonderful showcase for Eric's guitar playing and some excellent sax leads from Craig Dreyer), and Chris' poetic take on society's reaction to the homeless -- "At This Hour".

This is a heck of a show, and showcases the band at peak form. Yes, I have released a few other Spin Doctors shows in the BARN series. But this is the first from their truly creative / formative years, and showcases a band really at their peak -- having built up a large repertoire of songs, a loyal fanbase, putting lots of shows under their belt, and JUST having been signed to a major label....but before they had any fame or national attention whatsoever. Typically I restrict the BARN series to my own masters -- and while I do have a cassette master of this show, this DAT clone I received many years ago in trade is clearly the source of choice. Sonically, the recording was quite bass-deficient (typically of Wetlands soundboard recordings, as the bass amps were quite loud onstage), so I did the best I could by adding just a touch of EQ to bring up the bass frequencies (while trying to avoid also raising the kick drum freqeuncies, since the kick drum was already well-represented in the mix). Hopefully you'll all be happy with what I've done. I've also scrubbed a number of instances of loud feedback which marred the recording (most of them should be barely audible at this point) using spectrum analysis and EQ to notch out those specific frequencies in the affected moments of the individual tracks.

I dedicate this release to Pete Paris, who was the first person to introduce me to the Spin Doctors' music (in addition to being the first person to play The Meters for me, and I believe Phish too). He specifically requested this show from me after he pointed out that criminally only the 2nd set of this show previously existed on archive.org *and* that there were cassette generations in it. If you listen to nothing else from this show, give "Cleopatra's Cat" a listen to see why this band was truly a jamband and what they were capable of back in the day. If you have a few more minutes, give a listen to "Rosetta Stone" and "Sweet Widow".

Enjoy!

Here's a rundown of all of my previous BARN archival releases (all can be found on archive.org except as noted):
BARN1 - Col Bruce Hampton and the Code Talkers at Bret & Joyce's wedding 9/17/2005
BARN2 - Col Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit (w/guest Warren Haynes for all of set 2) Wetlands 11/20/1993
BARN3 - moe. Wetlands 7/8/1995
BARN4 - Dan Bern Bottom Line 7/31/1998 (late show)
BARN5 - moe. Birch Hill 10/31/1996
BARN6 - moe. Maxwells 1/20/1996
BARN7 - Dan Bern Central Park Summerstage 9/19/1997
BARN8 - Dan Bern, Bottom Line 8/1/1998
BARN9 - moe. Bayou 4/5/1997
BARN10 - moe. Irving Plaza 4/4/1997
BARN11 - moe. AKA 9/7/1995
BARN12 - Yolk AKA 9/7/1995
BARN13 - Robert Walter/Johnny Vidacovich/James Singleton/Donald Harrison Preservation Hall 4/30/08
BARN14 - Phish Las Vegas, NV 10/31/1998 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN15 - Phish Great Went @ Loring AFB, Limestone, ME 8/16/1997 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN16 - Phish Great Went @ Loring AFB, Limestone, ME 8/17/1997 (on bt.etree.org), includes orchestra set - by request
BARN17 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/4/1996 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN18 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/6/1996 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN19 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/7/1996 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN20 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/5/1996 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN21 - God Street Wine, Irving Plaza, NYC 6/24/1993
BARN22 - Leftover Salmon, Wetlands, NYC 10/1/1994
BARN23 - Anders Osborne, Manny's Carwash, NYC 11/5/1997
BARN24 - Anders Osborne, Manny's Carwash, NYC 11/6/1997
BARN25 - moe. Pool Party, Morganville, NJ 6/2/1996
BARN26 - Widespread Panic, Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ 11/7/1992 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN27 - Stew ["Passing Strange"], The Turning Point, Piermont, NY 4/6/2003 (on bt.etree.org. dimeadozen.org)
BARN28 - Stew ["Passing Strange"], Joe's Pub, New York, NY 5/22/2003 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN29 - Percy Hill, Lion's Den, NYC 3/16/1996
BARN30 - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Irving Plaza, 8/3/1995
BARN31 - Percy Hill, Wetlands, NYC 6/8/1996
BARN32 - Bad Livers, Mercury Lounge, NYC, 11/15/1999 (opening for Leftover Salmon)
BARN33 - Bad Livers, Mercury Lounge, NYC, 11/16/1999 (opening for Leftover Salmon)
BARN34 - G. Love And Special Sauce, Central Park Summerstage, NYC 6/18/1995
BARN35 - The Band, The Great Lawn, Central Park, NYC 5/16/1993 (on dimeadozen.org)
BARN36 - The Band, Mountain Stage Radio broadcast, Charleston, WV, recorded 4/4/1996 (on dimeadozen.org)
*** Start of New Orleans Jazzfest Appreciation mini-series (note that BARN13 technically belongs in this series) ***
BARN37 - Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Tipitina's, New Orleans, LA, 5/5/2008
BARN38 - Steve Kimock Band, Tipitina's, New Orleans, LA, 5/6/2001 (2AM show)
BARN39 - The Funky Meters, Tipitina's, New Orleans, LA, 5/6/2001 (11PM show) (on bt.etree.org)
BARN40 - Anders Osborne, Tower Records instore, New Orleans, LA, 5/7/2001 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN41 - Joe Krown Trio w/Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Russell Batiste + special guest Mike Gordon, Tipitina's, New Orleans, 5/5/2008
BARN42 - Russell Batiste and Friends, The Howlin' Wolf, New Orleans, 5/1/2008 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN43 - Global Noize, The Howlin' Wolf, New Orleans, 5/1/2008 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN44 - Deep Banana Blackout, The Howlin' Wolf, New Orleans, LA 5/6/2000
BARN45 - Bela Fleck And The Flecktones, The Saenger Theater, New Orleans, LA 5/5/2000
BARN46 - Medeski Martin And Wood, The Saenger Theater, New Orleans, LA 5/6/2000 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN47 - String Cheese Incident, The Saenger Theater, New Orleans, LA 5/5/2000
BARN48 - Soulive, House Of Blues Parish, New Orleans, LA 5/5/2001
BARN49 - String Cheese Incident, Cajun Queen Riverboat, New Orleans, LA 5/3/2000
BARN50 - New Mastersounds, House Of Blues Parish, New Orleans, LA 5/2/2008
BARN51 - Funky Meters, Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN 6/13/2003 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN52 - George Porter And The Runnin' Pardners, Village Underground, NYC, 5/19/2001
BARN53 - Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Tramps, NYC 10/29/1993 late show
BARN54 - The Meters, Tramps, NYC 5/15/93 late show (on dimeadozen)
BARN55 - The Meters, Tramps, NYC 10/29/93 late show (on dimeadozen)
BARN56 - Wild Magnolias, Wetlands, NYC 2/10/2000 (on bt.etree.org)
*** end of New Orleans Jazzfest Appreciation mini-series ***
BARN57 - Blues Traveler, Livingston Gym @ Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 4/17/1993
BARN58 - Phish, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, 10/29/1998 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN59 - Jazz Is Dead, Bottom Line, NYC 2/7/1998 (late show only) (on bt.etree.org)
BARN60 - Grateful Dead, Cal Expo Amphitheatre, Sacramento, CA 5/27/1993
BARN61 - The Dude Of Life (w/Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman for entire show, plus Page McConnell for a bunch), Wetlands, NYC 2/5/1994 - on bt.etree.org
BARN62 - ALO, High Sierra Music Festival Main Stage, Quincy, CA 7/3/2005
BARN63 - Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon, High Sierra Music Festival Main Stage, Quincy, CA 7/3/2005 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN64 - Dan Bern, The Bottom Line, NYC 11/11/1998
BARN65 - Galactic, Knitting Factory, NYC 10/18/1997 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN66 - Bruce Hornsby, Paramount Theater, NYC 12/7/1993 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN67 - God Street Wine, Irving Plaza, NYC 8/26/1993
BARN68 - Warren Haynes Midnight Southern Jam - Wetlands, NYC 8/5/1993 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN69 - Dave Matthews And Friends (Trey Anastasio, Tim Reynolds, Tony Hall, Brady Blade, Ray Paczkowski) Bonnaroo 6/11/2004 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN70 - Rana at Bret & Joyce's wedding, Whitehall, NY 9/17/2005
BARN71 - Soulive - Baby Jupiter, NYC 6/11/1999
BARN72 - Chris Barron, Nightingale Bar, NYC 7/14/1997
BARN73 - Chris Barron, Nightingale Bar, NYC 11/17/1997
BARN74 - George Porter's 60th Birthday w/PBS and friends, Blender Theater, NYC 12/29/2007
BARN75 - Jennifer Hartswick Band with special guest Trey Anastasio, Lion's Den, NYC 11/7/2003 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN76 - moe., Gathering Of The Vibes, Seaside Park, Bridgeport, CT 6/20/1999
BARN77 - Project Logic, Gathering Of The Vibes, Seaside Park, Bridgeport, CT 6/20/1999
BARN78 - Phish - Beacon Theater, NYC 4/13/1994 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN79 - Phish - Beacon Theater, NYC 4/14/1994 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN80 - Phish - Beacon Theater, NYC 4/15/1994 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN81 - The Recipe, Wetlands, NYC 11/12/1999
BARN82 - Ominous Seapods, Wetlands, NYC 6/4/1999
BARN83 - Coby Brown Group, Wetlands, NYC 11/12/1999 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN84 - The Big Wu, Wetlands, NYC 11/12/1999
BARN85 - Moon Boot Lover, Wetlands, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN86 - Percy Hill, Wetlands, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN87 - Miracle Orchestra, Wetlands Lounge, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN88 - Jiggle The Handle, Wetlands, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN89 - Jiggle The Handle, Wetlands, NYC 10/2/1998
BARN90 - Lake Trout, Wetlands Lounge, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN91 - Olu Dara, Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, South Street Seaport Atrium, NYC 6/6/1999 (on bt.etree.org / www.dimeadozen.org)
BARN92 - Donna The Buffalo, Wetlands, NYC 11/12/1999
BARN93 - Radiators (w/Merl Saunders sit-in), Irving Plaza 10/8/1998
BARN94 - Tiny Lights, Wetlands, NYC 8/18/1993
BARN95 - Tiny Lights, Wetlands, NYC 1/5/1994
BARN96 - Radiators, Irving Plaza, NYC 11/14/1997
BARN97 - Radiators, Manny's Carwash, NYC 5/30/1998
BARN98 - The Wood Brothers (w/Medeski, Wolleson, and special guest Amos Lee), Bowery Ballroom, NYC 5/17/2008 - on bt.etree.org
BARN99 - Pieta Brown, Bowery Ballroom, NYC 5/17/2008 - on bt.etree.org
BARN100 - Jeff Buckley, CBGB's 313 Gallery, NYC 12/18/1993 - on dimeadozen
BARN101 - Tiny Lights, CBGB's 313 Gallery, NYC 12/18/1993
BARN102 - Tiny Lights, The Lion's Den, NYC 2/18/1994
BARN103 - Tiny Lights, Club Sine', NYC 2/3/1994
BARN104 - Ha Ha The Moose (moe. side project), BB Kings, NYC 11/23/2001
BARN105 - Medeski Martin & Wood, Hilton Hotel Ballroom, NYC, 4/29/2005 - on bt.etree.org
BARN106 - Tiny Lights, The Court Tavern, New Brunswick, NJ 11/24/1993
BARN107 - Tiny Lights, Knitting Factory, NYC 10/26/1994
BARN108 - Tiny Lights, Mercury Lounge, NYC 7/13/1994
BARN109 - All God's Children, The Lion's Den, NYC 2/18/1994
BARN110 - Dan Bern, Bottom Line, NYC 1/2/1999 (w/Moxy Fruvous guesting in the late show)
BARN111 - Moxy Fruvous, Bottom Line, NYC 1/2/1999 (w/Dan Bern guesting in encore)
BARN112 - Peter Rownan's Reggaebilly!, High Sierra Music Festival, Quincy, CA 7/6/2002 (on The Trader's Den)
BARN113 - Conehead Buddha, Wetlands, NYC 10/2/1998
BARN114 - Conehead Buddha, Tramps, NYC, 2/12/1998
BARN115 - Conehead Buddha, The Lion's Den, NYC 7/2/1998
BARN116 - Frogwings (w/special guest Warren Haynes), Wetlands, NYC, 2/9/1999 on bt.etree.org
BARN117 - All God's Children, Jack's House Party, Long Valley, NJ 9/4/1994
BARN118 - God Street Wine, Irving Plaza, NYC 10/9/1993
BARN119 - David Bromberg, Tarrytown Music Hall, 10/15/1999 (on bt.etree.org / www.dimeadozen.org)
BARN120 - The Concept w/George Porter, ?uestlove, Ivan Neville, Eric Krasno, Bill Summers, Casey Benjamin, BB King's, NYC 9/26/02 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN121 - Percy Hill, The Lion's Den, NYC 7/13/1996
BARN122 - Spin Doctors, The Wetlands, 9/27/1995
BARN123 - Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Wetlands, NYC, 3/4/1994
BARN124 - Allman Brothers Band, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO 8/3/1996 (not publicly posted due to ABB trading policy)
BARN125 - Spin Doctors, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO 8/3/1996
BARN126 - Col. Bruce Hampton and the Fiji mariners, Wetlands, NYC 9/2/1994
BARN127 - Phil Lesh and Friends, Irving Plaza, New York, NY 5/21/2002
BARN128 - Merl Saunders and Friends, The Wetlands, New York, NY 5/10/1990 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN129 - God Street Wine, Wetlands, NYC 12/31/1993
BARN130 - Bernie Worrell And The Woo Warriors, Wetlands, NYC 12/28/2000
BARN131 - Bernie Worrell And The Woo Warriors, Knitting Factory, NYC 2/16/2002
BARN132 - Spin Doctors, Wetlands, NYC 2/2/1991


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